Die Entlassung

The idea to make a film about Bismarck's downfall is a rather curious one because the film shows around the clock that Bismarck (Emil Jannings) tries to preserve peace and avoid a war against France and Russia on two fronts while the unlikeable, young and arrogant emperor Wilhelm II. (Werner Hinz) doesn't care and finally gets rid of Bismarck. The film not only fits badly in the political climate, it also is mostly free of overly aggressive propaganda save for a chilling speech in the parliament as well as the ending where Bismarck ponders who will continue his work (insert Hitler here). With these scenes removed we get a reasonably entertaining, dramatic and harmless picture and that's what was done after the war and shown under the title Schicksalswende . Hilariously the commercial tape uses this title but shows the uncut version while the DVD uses the original title but shows the cut version.